Ch. 781..790
Chapter 781 781 – Lots Of Money
Lucin brought everyone back to the Hibye.
However, when they arrived, Lucin told everyone to wait.
"I will call for you one by one, and you can tell me what you want to do with the resources you acquired," Lucin said.
That took a couple of Clouds by surprise.
"Isn't Fleros the one doing this normally?" one of them asked.
"It's different this time," Lucin said. "Some things have happened, which is why I will be the one doing it this time."
The Clouds looked at each other and shrugged.
It didn't really make a difference.
The next moment, Lucin made a small barrier and called the first Cloud in.
After five minutes, that Cloud left, which surprised everyone.
What would they need to talk about for five minutes?
The first Cloud noticed everyone's gazes. "He said to wait until five minutes are up before leaving," he said. "It's to keep the identities of certain people hidden."
After saying that, he threw a small glance at the blue-haired woman.
When Lucin called in the second Cloud, they noticed that the first Cloud had spoken the truth since the second one also didn't leave for five full minutes.
The Clouds only groaned in annoyance.
This felt like a waste of time.
Luckily, there weren't that many Clouds remaining, which meant that they wouldn't even need to wait for two hours.
After about one and a half hours, Lucin called Shang.
Shang wordlessly entered the small Isolation Barrier.
When Lucin saw Shang, he only sighed. "You're nothing but trouble. You know that?"
Shang didn't answer.
"You keep annoying my Bolts."
"You destroy my trials."
"You kill so many Clouds."
"Do you have any idea how many lies I had to come up with to explain some of your weird powers to everyone else?"
"Okay," Shang answered flatly. "So, about my money."
Lucin sighed again.
"I presume you want to exchange everything for Mana Crystals?" Lucin asked.
Shang nodded.
The next second, Lucin threw a small Space Ring toward Shang. "Put everything you want to sell into this Space Ring."
Shang looked into the Space Ring and noticed that it was completely empty.
Shang quickly dumped everything that he didn't need into the Space Ring, which was quite a lot of stuff.
When Lucin got the Space Ring back, he had to take a deep breath.
He regretted volunteering to tally up everyone's winnings.
Lucin could just dump all of this into the Logistics Department's hands and be done with it, but Lucin always checked the prices on his own to see how much more he could get out of the Logistics Department.
This habit of Lucin's often increased the number of Mana Crystals a Cloud received by a bit over 10%, but it was also a lot of work.
For once, he just wanted to skip that routine since he felt that Shang wasn't buying anything useful with the money he got either way, but in the end, Lucin still decided to go through with his usual routine.
"I will contact you in about a week regarding your Mana Crystals. Sorry that it's taking so long, but I also have to sell A LOT of companies and assets that belong to you now," he said.
Shang nodded. "Thanks," he said before turning around.
"Five minutes aren't up yet," Lucin said.
Shang stopped and just waited in silence.
An awkward couple of minutes passed.
"Alright, you can go," Lucin said with another sigh, and Shang left.
'Why is everything involving him so difficult?' he thought.
After exiting the Isolation Barrier, Shang flew into the distance and sat down at his usual spot.
He was annoyed that he had to wait for a week, but there was nothing he could do.
For now, he decided to continue training inside his inner world.
A week quickly passed, and Shang was contacted by Lucin again.
Lucin arrived in front of Shang, and Shang exited his inner world.
"Alright, I've dealt with everything," Lucin said in a much better mood. All the work was done, and he was relieved that he could return to his usual tasks.
"Give me one of your Space Rings," he said.
Shang wordlessly handed him an empty Space Ring.
A second later, Shang got it back and looked inside, and he was quite surprised.
937 Grade Seven Mana Crystals.
However, that wasn't the thing that surprised Shang.
There was also something gigantic inside his Space Ring.
It was the thing he wanted to buy!
"I already deducted the price for it," Lucin said.
This meant that Shang had actually earned 1,437 Grade Seven Mana Crystals in this Wilderness Hunt.
That was more than a Grade Eight Mana Crystal!
1,437 Grade Seven Mana Crystals represented 1,437 years of condensing Mana for a Mage Lord.
The Keeper of the Temple of Blood would need that long to make that kind of money the normal way.
For someone in the Initial Sixth Realm, this was a crazy amount of money.
Shang was glad that he didn't need to care about resources and money for quite some time.
"Please don't summon it here," Lucin said, pulling Shang out of his thoughts.
"I reserved some land for you in the east. You can summon it there."
Shang just nodded. "Thanks," he said.
Lucin also nodded. "It's my job."
Then, Shang left and flew towards the east.
After a couple of kilometers, Shang saw a huge meadow, over 20 kilometers wide.
And then, Shang summoned the thing he had worked so hard to get.
BOOOOOOOOOM!
The earth shook, and a huge part of the meadow was completely destroyed as the ground broke into several pieces and crevices.
A gigantic black cube had appeared above the destroyed meadow.
It was ten by ten by ten kilometers big and made of Grade Seven Entropy Ore.
Yes, it was a humongous Isolation Chamber.
Such a gigantic piece of high-grade Entropy Ore was why this Isolation Chamber had been so expensive.
Of course, Shang didn't need to comprehend Void Break again, which meant that he didn't really need to train inside there.
But he didn't spend this much money just to train.
'Finally, I can summon Abominations again and advance!'
Chapter 782 782 – Ancestral Abomination
When Shang had trained in his smaller Isolation Chamber, he had also tried out his connection to his Abominations.
Of course, in Shang's panicked state, he would have destroyed the Isolation Chamber by summoning Abominations if he actually could.
Inside the Isolation Chamber, it was still impossible to summon Abominations.
However, Shang noticed that he still had his connection to the Abominations as long as the chamber wasn't completely closed.
Shang entered the Isolation Chamber and focused on the Magic Circle controlling it.
He could close it whenever he wanted, but if he wanted to open it, he would need to activate the timer. After all, since no Mana could escape from the inside, Shang couldn't possibly communicate with the Magic Circle on the outside.
Shang stopped in the middle of the Isolation Chamber.
As he did so, he was reminded of the time he had entered the black pylon in Area 23.
The black pylon had effectively been a humongous Isolation Chamber, and by now, Shang also knew how powerful it had been.
The Entropy Ore that made up the black pylon had been somewhere in the middle of the Sixth Realm but not too high up.
It could resist the fully powered assault of an Archmage, but it couldn't withstand the Storm Eagle, but the Storm Eagle was also one of the more powerful Zone Beasts, which meant it was probably a Late or Peak Ancestral Beast.
The high ceiling and blackness made it feel very similar to the black pylon.
However, this Isolation Chamber was several times more powerful than the black pylon.
If Shang managed to shove any kind of beast in there, not even an extremely powerful and talented Peak Ancestral Beast would be able to escape.
This thing was so powerful that it could even hold an Ancestral Abomination.
After looking at the majestic Isolation Chamber for a while, Shang focused on a place he hadn't tried to communicate actively with for a long time.
The realm of the Abominations.
Shang still had no idea where this realm was.
It felt like it was just beside him, but it also felt like it was outside this world.
Shang also couldn't feel any kind of Mana inside that Realm.
It was like Mana didn't exist, which also made sense since the Abominations were killed by Mana and also destroyed Mana.
It was a Manaless world.
Kind of like the universe Earth was in.
Of course, it was actually impossible that the realm of the Abominations was in that universe. After all, that universe was also made of Space Mana, and the realm of the Abominations had no Mana.
That included no Space Mana.
It was a confusing place where no rules, concepts, or laws applied.
It was something beyond comprehension.
Shang had had the thought that the God might have been responsible for the Abominations a couple of times in the past, but the more powerful Shang grew, the less likely it seemed.
The God was someone that had reached the apex of power, but that apex was based on Mana and Concepts.
The realm of the Abominations had nothing like that.
Maybe that was also one of the reasons why the God wasn't the epitome of sanity.
His world was slowly dying to these Abominations, and he had to view his world becoming weaker and weaker without being able to do anything about it.
Or, maybe, he could actually do something about them.
Not being able to control something wasn't the same as not being able to stop something.
A human couldn't control the body of an insect, but they could very well stop it by stepping on it.
One thing was for sure.
The God could kill all the Abominations that appeared inside this world before they could do a lot of damage.
As soon as an Abomination appeared, it would be annihilated within microseconds.
But he didn't do that.
Additionally, he could also control who became the Child of Calamity, and he could also stop the Child of Calamity from growing, making the Abominations weaker.
But he also didn't do that.
In the end, the God definitely wasn't innocent.
Shang slowly shook his head to return to the present.
He had just received the thing he wanted, but he had gotten distracted by the Abominations and the God.
Shang focused on the realm of the Abominations, and sure enough, he could feel several Ancestral Abominations.
Shang tried to pull one of them out, but just as always, the Ancestral Abomination's servants wanted to come with it.
Shang's aura intensified as he focused all of his endless willpower on that Ancestral Abomination.
It was like the realm of the Abominations was shaking, but the Ancestral Abomination didn't seem to show any reactions.
A moment later, it also seemed like the world around Shang was shaking.
"You will come alone."
A cold voice seemed to reverberate through the Isolation Chamber and throughout the realm of the Abominations.
The next moment, the threads connecting the Ancestral Abomination to its servants seemed to waver.
"You will come alone," Shang repeated with a dark voice.
The threads shook more.
And then, Shang gritted his teeth.
BANG!
It was like a gigantic hand took hold of the tiny Abomination.
And then, the gigantic hand pulled the Abomination out as the threads connecting it to its servants broke.
BANG!
The doors of the Isolation Chamber immediately closed.
BOOOOM!
A huge Abomination, over two kilometers tall, fell on the ground inside the Isolation Chamber.
It had two legs that reminded Shang of a velociraptor, a long and powerful tail, four powerful and muscular arms, a head filled with tentacles, and a back filled with tentacles.
The remainder of its body was covered in the darkest scales imaginable.
The name Abomination described its appearance very well.
As soon as it appeared, the Abomination felt the foreign sensation of Mana around it.
Yes, this was an Isolation Chamber, but the Mana inside it hadn't been used up yet.
When it felt the Mana, it acted on instinct and wanted to attack.
BANG!
Yet, its body was pushed to the ground by an invisible force.
Shang's entire being focused on the Abomination with terrifying willpower and pressure.
Shang wasn't asking the Abomination.
He was commanding it.
It belonged to him!
It did what he wanted!
It was weak!
He was strong!
He was alive!
And it would die!
Chapter 783 783 – Jester Is Unhappy
For now, Shang kept focusing on refining his battle style and increasing the power of his body by absorbing Abominations.
The next trial inside his inner world would take place in about 150 years, and he had to be ready for that.
Additionally, Shang was once more uncertain about how to advance, and he wanted to wait for the trial before he made a decision.
Over the next years, Shang remained inside the Isolation Chamber, but he didn't fully close it.
He left a small part open so that Mana could enter, but he mostly closed it to make it difficult for others to look inside while keeping the Isolation Barriers around the Isolation Chamber activated.
Shang was sure that several Clouds were still planning on killing him, and that was one of the biggest reasons for isolating himself like this.
Going out and talking to people was the quickest way to get killed.
Luckily, Shang didn't need to earn more resources for a long time, and Lucin also didn't bother him.
Like this, Shang spent many years in isolation, preparing himself for the trial.
90 years later, it was finally time.
Shang could have waited for another 60 years, but he had already reached the peak of the Initial Void Break Realm, and there was nothing more he could train in.
His battle style for his Addum and Subsis had already been perfected.
Shang was now around 1,150 years old, and it was time for his first trial in about 800 years.
Shang stood in the middle of his world, focusing on the stone stele beside him.
There was a rotting skeletal hand that was slowly turning into dust.
The remains of powerful people held for a long time, but they would also eventually succumb to time.
There was nearly nothing left of the hand.
Shang lifted his own hand and waved it to the side.
The skeletal hand turned into dust and scattered.
After such a long time, Shang no longer felt any connection to his past.
Jerald was only some distant acquaintance that died an eternity ago.
It wasn't important.
He wasn't important.
Shang's past actions weren't important.
Shang was here now, and he was himself.
No one else mattered.
"Start the trial," Shang said coldly.
A second later, confetti rained down on Shang, who used his Domain of Entropy to destroy it.
But he failed.
The confetti passed through his Domain of Entropy and covered his body.
Shang didn't say anything and manually pushed the confetti away from his body.
The Affinity Wheel returned, and the jester was grinning at Shang once more.
"Look at how strong and independent you are now," the jester said with a chuckle. "You're all badass, and you even push powerful Abominations around like they are worthless servants."
"They are," Shang answered evenly.
The jester's eyebrows shot up, and he broke out into laughter.
"Oh, you're just the best, Shang," he said after having his fill of laughing. "Honestly, if you knew how absolutely endless their hordes and powers are, you would also find this funny."
Shang didn't answer anything.
"You think I can't see through your little cube of Abomination Ore?" the jester asked with a chuckle. "You think I can't read your mind anymore?"
"Sorry to disappoint, but the current you is just as powerful as […]."
Shang heard a certain word, which he immediately forgot after hearing it.
At the same time, he felt like his head was about to explode.
Shang grabbed his head and nearly fell over.
It hurt so much!
He had never felt anything that hurt this much!
When the jester saw that Shang didn't fall over, his smirk vanished, and he snorted.
BANG!
Something strong and heavy hit Shang's head, and he fell to the ground without being able to do anything.
The jester's funny boot stomped on Shang's head, rubbing back and forth as Shang lay on the ground.
"Feel you're strong, huh?" he said with a malicious smirk.
"Think you're tough shit now, huh?"
"Well, you're not!"
CRKSH!
Shang's head exploded beneath the jester's boot.
The next moment, the jester stretched his hand toward Shang's body and pulled something out.
It was an azure light that was nearly invisible to any living being.
"This is you!" the jester shouted in anger.
"This is your soul!"
"I took it from Earth!"
"I can shove it back into Earth!"
"I can take it from your body!"
"I can shove it into the body of a cockroach!"
"Or, I can just clench my hand and destroy you!"
"You are worthless!"
"You are nothing!"
"You are my plaything!"
"You are my toy!"
The jester looked at the motionless azure light.
Then, he snorted.
"Who am I even talking to? You can't even think in this state," he said.
The jester shook his head and flung the azure light back into the headless body.
A moment later, Shang's head regrew.
Then, he shot up to his feet.
He wasn't quite sure what had happened.
Everything felt so strange and alien for some reason.
"You know," the jester said, gaining Shang's attention. "I've been reading your mind lately, and I think it's time to clear some of your doubts."
Shang didn't say anything.
"Come here," the jester said.
The next moment, Shang felt himself getting pulled out of his inner world.
BANG!
Shang's real body hit the side of his Isolation Chamber, breaking several bones.
"You've been doubting my power," the jester said.
Shang quickly shot to his feet again as he tried to think of a way out of this situation.
Obviously, the God was mad again, and the madder the God became, the more danger Shang was in.
Shang knew that the God was extremely impulsive.
He might actually just kill Shang out of sheer spite or anger, even if that ruined his entertainment for a long while.
The jester slowly walked over. "You've been suspecting that my powers are only mind powers."
"I've never really done anything in the actual world."
"I always only told you that I can do things, and I only ever did things in your little world."
"What if I am restricted from interfering with this world?"
"What if I took you here to free me from some kind of prison?"
"What if I am actually not dangerous to you in real life?"
Shang didn't say anything.
After thinking for a while, he realized one thing.
He was helpless.
There was no way out of this situation.
His survival completely depended on the God's mood, and the God would also realize when Shang tried to calm him down.
There was literally nothing Shang could do.
Chapter 784 784 – And Again
"Let me just clear all your doubts, okay?" the jester said with a malicious smirk.
Then, he flicked one of his fingers at the wall.
BOOOOOOOM!
The wall of the humongous Isolation Chamber blew apart, its fragments scattering across millions of kilometers.
Shang couldn't move.
The sheer power of that flick had been beyond comprehension.
"Have you already forgotten?" the jester said, continuing to walk forward.
"I kicked the idiotic, naïve, and idealistic Mage Emperor to death."
"You think I cared about his power?"
"Even this cheap and stupid puppet is powerful enough to kill a Mage Emperor," the jester said, referring to its body.
"Want to see?" he said, genuine craziness in its mechanical eyes.
"You don't need to," Shang answered. "I believe you."
The jester's expression changed to a cocky and ridiculing one.
Its expression almost seemed like it came from a cartoon.
"Too bad," the God said. "You're not the one in charge."
Then, the jester lunged forward and grabbed Shang by one of his shoulders, and pulled him along.
In an instant, they arrived somewhere else.
The two appeared in front of the hovering Lucin, who was currently dealing with something by focusing on his Communication Crystal.
Lucin didn't notice either of the two.
The jester let go of Shang and slowly wound up by spinning his right arm in a circle.
Then, he punched Lucin.
CRKSH!
And Lucin's head exploded.
Shang took a deep breath.
This wasn't some illusion.
This was real.
The God had just killed Lucin.
The next moment, Shang saw nearly twenty Bolts appear in the sky around Lucin's falling body.
They were looking with absolute terror at the falling corpse of their leader.
What?!
What had just happened?!
Was this real?!
None of them even looked at Shang or the jester.
The jester just looked at Shang with a mad grin.
"Wanna see more?" he asked.
"I believe you," Shang said.
The jester looked at Shang for a while.
"You truly believe me," the jester said.
Shang only nodded.
Making the jester angry was a very bad idea.
Right now, Shang's surroundings were very secure, but by killing Lucin, the jester had already made problems for Shang.
Lucin essentially knew nearly everything regarding Shang's power, and he even covered for Shang.
And now, he was dead.
The Contender Department would need a new Thunder, and that Thunder might not be as nice and helpful as Lucin.
The God had proven his power.
"Too bad," the jester said, making Shang's heart sink. "I'm the one deciding when to stop."
"Wanna take a trip to the Lightning Manor?"
For the first time in a long while, Shang actually felt some terror.
"Afraid that I will ruin your nice and cozy training environment?" the jester asked. "Scared that I will also kill your cute little teacher?"
"Why be scared of the inevitable?"
Then, the jester grabbed Shang again, and an instant later, they appeared in a room with several ponds of water.
It was Queen Primordium's room.
Shang took a deep breath and saw Queen Primordium sitting on top of one of the ponds with her eyes closed.
"Let's go over and visit her," the jester said with a wide smile.
The jester slowly walked forward onto the pond.
After a couple of steps, he stopped and turned to the stationary Shang. "Come, don't be shy. We should greet her!"
Shang hesitated but followed the jester.
Eventually, the two of them stopped in front of Queen Primordium.
The jester just smirked at her, while Shang didn't say anything.
Silence.
No one was saying anything.
Shang's heart rate increased.
What would the jester do?
The silence continued.
…
"Slap her."
Shang's right hand shook a bit.
"Slap her," the jester repeated, "and I don't want it to be a light one."
"No worries. With me beside you, you will notice that your slaps have reached incredible heights of power and sophistication."
"Come on. Do it," the jester said.
Shang took a deep breath.
BANG!
He slapped Queen Primordium.
She shot away, and her back hit the wall of her room, which was far harder than her bones.
A couple of her bones broke, and her face was sunken as half her skull broke.
Queen Primordium opened her eyes in absolute terror, and she immediately focused on the only other person in her chambers.
Shang.
Shang was the only other person here.
Queen Primordium couldn't find any words.
And then, she gritted her teeth that weren't broken and gathered all her Mana.
Yet, nothing happened.
Her Mana wasn't listening to her!
"What?" she asked in surreal shock.
She immediately tried to contact the Ancestor, but her Spirit Sense also didn't work.
She had become powerless.
"Slap her again."
"I don't want you to say anything."
"Just walk over and slap her again."
Shang didn't move for two seconds.
Then, he slowly walked forward.
Queen Primordium shot up and tried her best to control the Mana around her, but she had become powerless.
She tried to run to the door, but the space between her and the door seemed to have expanded to endless lengths.
It was like she wasn't moving at all.
Shang slowly walked closer.
BANG!
And slapped her again.
Even more of her bones broke, and her body slid on the ground.
"What are you doing?!" she shouted, barely audible due to her broken face.
"What is happening?!"
"Who are you?!"
"What have I done to you?!"
For the first time in an eternity, Queen Primordium felt terrified and helpless.
"Slap her again."
Shang slowly walked over.
Queen Primordium shouted in panic.
She refused to believe that this was real.
This couldn't be real.
Shang slapped her again, and her mind shook.
It was difficult for her to make a coherent thought.
"Break one of her legs with a kick."
Shang took a deep breath.
CRACK!
Queen Primordium screamed.
"Punch her stomach."
BANG!
"Break her right arm."
CRKSH!
"Kick her broken leg."
"Again."
"Again."
"Again."
"Punch her gut again."
"Break her other arm."
"Slap her again."
"And again."
"And again."
"And again."
Chapter 785 785 – Poking The Pile
Shang stood in front of a pile of bloody meat.
This pile had once been Queen Primordium.
The God had ordered Shang to punch, slap, and kick that pile of meat for nearly half an hour.
Could Shang have declined?
Shang was free to do whatever he wanted, but he wasn't free of the consequences.
Shang could have said that he wouldn't follow the God's orders.
But then what?
The chances were very high that the God would just kill him.
And then, he would be dead.
That would be it.
The past 1,200 years would have been for absolutely nothing.
All because Shang thought about refusing an order.
When under immense stress or pushed into a corner, humans often think about how great it would be to do this or that.
Just throw everything away.
No matter what anyone said, you wouldn't do that.
You had your principles.
You had self-respect.
And then, you would die.
A bloodied corpse with principles.
A survivor without principles.
Many people would believe that they would belong to the first category.
They would never let themselves be suppressed.
They would never do something like this.
But when their lives were on the line, they would realize that their morals were far more flexible than they had thought.
Your loved ones wouldn't be able to talk to you again.
Your loved ones would cry.
Your pets and children would lose their provider and guardian.
Your best friend would lose their best friend.
Your community would lose the service you provided to it.
For what?
Just so you could follow your principles?
Just so you could say that you wouldn't do something?
Out of anger?
Out of spite?
Shang had been in this situation just now.
Did he enjoy slowly punching his teacher to death?
No.
Did he want to do it?
No.
Would he have avoided it if he could?
Yes.
Yet, avoiding it would be akin to risking his life.
Yes, a teacher was an important person, but risking one's life for them was not expected.
Naturally, there were several degrees of danger.
Donate a kidney, which could be seen as a slight risk due to missing a spare kidney?
Maybe.
Try to save them from a speeding car?
Maybe.
Take a bullet to the chest for them?
Unlikely.
The God had essentially put a gun towards Shang's head, and if he refused, he would shoot him.
Would he actually do that, though?
Impossible to say.
The God was far beyond rational.
It could have gone either way, but Shang guessed that the God would have killed him.
The God wanted entertainment, but he also didn't want his toys to defy him.
Shang might be entertaining for the God, but that was it.
An apt comparison for people from Earth would be destroying a keyboard or a controller because of a game.
Was it a worthy exchange?
Venting your anger in exchange for a piece of equipment?
Most likely not.
Did you do it anyway?
Possible.
Was the God someone that would smash his belonging because of something that annoyed him?
...
Shang just looked forward.
His Spirit Sense wasn't concentrating on anything in particular.
He had no desire to continue looking at the pile of meat, and he also didn't want to look at the God.
He just waited.
The only thing he could do was follow the God's orders until he was satisfied.
After a while, the jester walked over and poked the pile of meat with the bottom of his hammer.
"You remember her blue hair?" he asked with a self-satisfied smirk.
Shang didn't say anything.
"You remember her eyes?"
"What about her help?"
"You know, she actually was someone that could put the overall good of the world above loyalty, and she also had enough determination to see when sacrifices are necessary."
"If you actually told her about your Affinity, she might have actually decided to help you. Well, assuming you managed to convince her that you would get rid of the Abominations eventually."
Shang didn't say anything.
"And now, look at her."
"All bloody."
Shang remained silent.
The jester poked the flesh a bit more.
"Do you believe my power now?" the jester asked.
"Yes," Shang answered.
The jester poked some more.
"Want me to kill the Lightning Emperor as well?"
"No," Shang answered.
"Why not?" the jester asked with a smirk.
"I need one Emperor that speaks up for me," Shang said.
"Do you really?" the jester asked. "You haven't heard the answer to your next question yet."
"I doubt it will be less dangerous or easier than having the Lightning Emperor's permission and backing," Shang said.
The jester continued poking the fleshy pile. "You know, you told him about me."
"Or I would have died," Shang answered.
"And you think I wouldn't kill you?" the God asked.
"One was a certain death. The other is an uncertain death," Shang said.
"Hmmm," the jester hummed. "But I can do worse things to you."
"No," Shang said.
The jester blinked a bit in surprise.
Then, he understood.
And snickered.
"That's why you're my favorite toy, Shang," the jester said. "Every single other person would agree with my statement."
"After all, what is worse than being forced to live forever in agony?"
"What's worse than having your soul attached to a literal eternally rotting piece of shit?"
"What's worse than dying over and over and over and over again?"
The jester snickered a bit more.
"But all of that doesn't matter to you."
"To you, all of these things are the same."
"You won't be able to realize your dream anyway, which makes everything equally bad."
The jester chuckled some more.
"You're so fucked up, Shang."
Shang didn't answer.
"When you came to my palace, you were so very different."
"Tell me, what would your past self think of the current you?" the jester asked.
"Hate me," Shang answered.
"Right," the jester said as he poked the pile of meat some more. "He would hate you."
"He would believe that you were living for nothing."
"You're throwing your life away."
"You are already living a life worse than death."
"And the best thing is that you don't care about that. These are the thoughts of a young and naïve mortal."
"You've become so powerful, and you've come so far. How could some weak mortal know more about life than you?"
The jester continued snickering as he poked the pile some more.
Silence.
Some poking.
More silence.
"Want to know what will happen now?"
Chapter 786 786 – Fun Idea
Naturally, Shang was interested in what the God planned on doing next.
Was the God done bringing chaos into the world?
What about the deaths?
Who would handle the deaths?
Would they find out that Queen Primordium had died to Shang?
However, Shang also noticed a couple of things.
Lucin died over half an hour ago, but Queen Primordium hadn't been contacted in the couple of minutes between Lucin's death and Shang's slap.
Usually, one would expect that Queen Primordium would get contacted immediately when one of her Thunders died.
Even more, Shang had beaten Queen Primordium to death for over half an hour.
Did no one notice that?
Did no one try to contact her during this time?
Obviously, the God was somewhat involved in all of this. He did something to change a couple of things, but Shang couldn't be sure what he had done.
What now?
What would the God do?
Well, the best-case scenario would be to revive Lucin and Queen Primordium. The God had that power.
However, that would make all of this worthless.
That would essentially get rid of the entire impact of the God's actions.
Because of that, he wouldn't do it.
The next best thing would be to change everyone's memories.
That would retain the impact of the God's actions, and it would also allow Shang to continue training here in peace.
But would the God do this?
"No worries," the jester said with a smirk. "I won't do anything to the Lightning Emperor."
These words didn't reassure Shang.
"First," the jester said.
Then, a piece of paper appeared in his hands.
It was a picture of a smiling Queen Primordium.
He walked over to the pile of meat and put the picture lightly on top of it.
Shang didn't say anything.
Then, the jester walked over to the door and turned to Shang with a smirk. "Let's go back to your cozy little cube."
Shang just walked over to the jester and stopped beside him.
Shang didn't want to follow the jester's orders like a dog, but there was nothing he could do.
Shang was helpless in front of the God…
For now.
The jester only smirked at Shang with a knowing expression.
He knew exactly what Shang was thinking.
Then, he lightly took Shang's hand like they were going on a date and teleported away with him.
They reappeared a second later in front of Shang's broken Isolation Chamber.
"You know, there was actually an additional reason why I killed these two," the jester said.
"Do you know why?"
Shang didn't need to think for a long time.
He already knew the God.
"It was getting boring," Shang said.
The jester's smirk widened into a smile. "Correct."
"You have a nice place. You have a lot of money. You have a great backing. You have time. You are not in danger."
"It was nice for a while, but now, it's getting boring."
"What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to watch you sit in your little black cube for thousands of years, doing nothing?"
"As you were earlier, you could have reached the top without many problems, probably."
"And that's boring."
"So, I thought that it would be a good idea to make things a bit more exciting, you know?"
Naturally, Shang wasn't the biggest fan of this development.
He knew that he was the God's toy, but Shang didn't view himself as his toy, and he certainly didn't want to be one.
Shang wanted to become truly powerful and kill the God.
Over the past couple of years, his resolve to kill the God had weakened a bit since everything had happened so long ago, and all the times the God had suppressed Shang had seemed so distant.
Sure, he probably would still have done it, but it hadn't been on his list of priorities.
But now, the God reminded Shang why he wanted to kill him.
"Anyway, regarding what will happen," the jester said.
"First, no one gets revived."
"Second, no one gets their memories manipulated."
"Lucin and your dear teacher just died, and no one saw who killed them."
The jester's smirk widened. "Can you imagine? There hasn't been an unexpected death of a Mage King for over 400,000 years!"
"Who could possibly kill a Mage King?"
"It must be someone from another Empire, right?"
"But who?"
"And did they have the help of their Emperor?"
"It couldn't be anyone from outside an Empire since there is no one even nearly as strong as a Mage King."
"Every Emperor will believe that at least one Emperor helped in killing the Mage King, breaking the ancient truce."
"What will they do?"
"Who will they blame?"
"Everyone is certain that there is at least one traitor amongst the Emperors."
The jester laughed.
"But there is no traitor!"
"Everyone is innocent!"
The jester looked at Shang. "Isn't that interesting?"
Shang didn't say anything.
The jester chuckled a bit more.
Then, he stretched his right hand towards the broken cube and pointed at it.
SHING!
All the broken pieces of the Isolation Chamber gathered near the cube again and rebuilt it.
"I want this to be entertaining, but without this thing, you can't summon Abominations without being found out," the jester said.
"Ain't I a nice guy?" the jester asked with a smirk.
Shang didn't say anything.
Then, the jester walked through the entrance of the rebuilt Isolation Chamber, Shang following behind him.
After the two of them arrived in the middle, the jester stopped and slightly closed the door, but not completely.
The jester snapped his fingers, and Shang was teleported back into his inner world.
The jester reappeared on the Affinity Wheel and grinned at Shang.
"Know what's fun?"
"Forcing you to go through the trial right now!"
"You're probably dying to know how all of this will affect your home, huh?"
"Well, sucks to be you! I want a trial!"
"You can find out all about the consequences after you're done entertaining me!"
And then, the Affinity Wheel began to spin under the God's loud laughter.
Chapter 787 787 – Meteor
The Affinity Wheel began to spin.
Shang didn't say anything.
Earlier, he had looked forward to the trial. After all, the reward he would gain would make it easier for him to find a path toward the Seventh Realm.
Shang had waited for several decades for this trial, and now, it was finally here.
Yet, after everything that happened over the last hour, Shang couldn't be excited about the trial.
The God had just majorly changed the international landscape.
In fact, the things he had done could even be called unprecedented.
He had killed a Mage King!
This was probably the most significant event ever since Lucius had reached the Tenth Realm.
Lucin had also died, but his death wasn't as significant in the grand scheme of things.
Lucin had been quite helpful to Shang, but Shang didn't feel any sort of connection between them.
Shang was emotionally completely shut off from the outside, which was why he couldn't feel guilt, anger, or sadness for the deaths of others.
The same thing was true for Queen Primordium.
Shang had killed her, but he didn't think much of it.
The most terrible thing regarding this entire thing was that Shang was forced to do the God's bidding, even though he didn't want to.
Yet, one thing was indisputable.
Queen Primordium and Lucin had helped Shang a lot.
They had been his two biggest pillars of support.
Which was why the God had killed them.
It was too boring.
And now, after probably the most significant event of the last 400,000 years, the God was forcing Shang to go through the trial.
At this moment, the army of the Lightning Manor could roll out to investigate every single person.
It could be that the Lightning Manor would enter a state of war.
The Lightning Emperor might immediately contact the other Emperors and accuse a couple of them.
The other Emperors would probably be just as shocked.
International relations would drastically shift.
And all of this would happen in the following minutes.
What if things escalated and another Empire decided to strike at the Clouds, which could result in Shang's death?
But Shang was stuck in the trial.
Shang wanted to get out of the trial since he feared that something might happen to his real body during this tumultuous time.
But he could only leave by getting through the trial, and giving up on the trial wouldn't be worth it.
So, Shang could only go through the trial, even though he didn't want to.
The wheel stopped spinning, and a beast appeared.
Shang didn't even look at it before swinging his Subsis and releasing a Needle.
The spear made of pure darkness punched a hole into the beast's head, and the beast died immediately.
The applause came.
Shang didn't move. He just wanted to get through this trial as quickly as possible.
"Level two: Average Initial Ancestral Beast," the voice announced before the Affinity Wheel spun again.
Shang just waited.
Several seconds passed.
The beast appeared.
BANG!
The applause reappeared.
The wheel returned.
"Level three: Powerful Initial Ancestral Beast."
The wheel spun for several seconds.
Shang grew quite annoyed by the current trial.
Usually, Shang was a bit excited to see how strong he had become, and he also never really minded the easier levels of the trial.
But this time, things were different.
The entire world was changing, but Shang was stuck here.
And even worse, Shang actually had to wait several times longer than he was actually fighting, making everything seem meaningless and bothersome.
However, Shang also knew that he couldn't skip the easier trials.
Sure, the God theoretically could let Shang skip the levels, but he wouldn't do that.
After all, seeing Shang this frustrated was probably quite satisfying to the God.
Wasn't this exactly why he had forced Shang through this trial at this very moment?
The anxiety and insecurity of the current situation made for a lot of chaos, and the God loved chaos.
BANG!
Shang killed the next beast without even looking at it.
And he had to wait again.
It was agonizing how slow the wheel moved.
It took so long.
BANG!
The next beast died.
Shang had to wait again.
BANG!
The next beast died.
More waiting.
BANG!
The next beast died.
More waiting.
BANG!
The next beast died.
More waiting.
CRACK!
Several thick plates of armor exploded off a powerful bear's head, but it still survived.
BANG!
A second Needle killed it.
More applause and more waiting.
WHOOOOM! BANG!
Shang used Void Break and unleashed a Needle, killing the beast.
More applause and even more waiting.
Shang wasn't even thinking about anything anymore.
The angrier he became, the happier the God would become.
Sure, Shang might be helpless in front of the God, but he could still refuse to get angry or annoyed at him, which would slight him a little bit.
WHOOOOM! BANG!
Shang used another Needle with Void Break, killing the beast.
Even more applause and even more waiting.
This time, Shang shot a short glance at his new opponent.
WHOOOOM! BANG!
Another Needle with Void Break killed the cheetah.
Shang wanted to make sure that his opponent didn't have a powerful defense since they would most likely survive the attack.
The applause returned, and Shang had to wait more.
When his opponent appeared, Shang looked at it for a short moment.
Needle wouldn't be enough anymore since it didn't have a lot of destructive power.
Shang's next opponent was some sort of heavily armored porcupine walking on two legs.
Fast, powerful, strong defense.
WHOOOOOM!
Shang used Void Break, absorbing all the Mana in the surroundings.
For the first time in this trial, Shang was moving his Addum instead of his Subsis.
Shang lifted his Addum high as the porcupine began to charge at Shang.
Shang slashed downward.
BOOOOOOOOM!
From several kilometers away, the hedgehog exploded into several pieces as the surrounding five kilometers turned into a hellscape of fire and destruction.
It was like a nuke had hit the ground!
This was one of Shang's new attacks.
Meteor.
Chapter 788 788 – Proto Mage
Meteor was a mix of Dusk and Shooting Star, two of Shang's old techniques.
After using Void Break to absorb all the Mana, Shang transformed it into Light Mana with an extreme of mass.
The extremely dense and heavy atmosphere above the target would then strike down at a precise point, breaking through the target's defenses.
And as soon as the heavy Light Mana reached the inside of the target's body, it would transform from Light Mana with an extreme of mass into Fire Mana with an extreme of heat via the Concept of Addition.
Like this, the target would explode from the inside out.
The applause returned, and Shang had to wait again.
BOOOOOOOM!
Shang used Meteor again to kill the next beast.
The applause returned, and Shang had to wait again.
Then, Shang looked at his opponent again.
He couldn't take his opponents lightly anymore, and he actually had to plan his assault.
The next beast was a small white ape carrying a cane.
'A Proto Mage,' Shang thought.
Shang had heard of them, but he had never seen one.
There were a couple of beasts that were far smarter than other beasts, and this ape was one of these kinds of beasts.
By watching humans, these apes had learned Magic themselves.
Naturally, they weren't as good as human Mages at Magic, which was why they were only about as powerful as average beasts.
Just when the ape opened its eyes, all the Mana in the surroundings was absorbed by Shang due to Void Break.
The ape immediately cast its own version of Mana Shield before readying an offensive Spell.
The ape sadly didn't have a Focus.
All the Mana in the surroundings returned again, and the ape finished its offensive Spell.
At that moment, all the Mana vanished again.
The ape pointed its staff at the distant Shang, and a terrifying bolt of lightning shot at him at incredible speeds.
Yet, just before the lightning bolt hit Shang, the space between them warped.
SHING!
And the lightning bolt was gone!
It vanished!
At this moment, Shang held a vibrating sword in front of him, his Subsis.
The space around the Subsis seemed to flow into it, and the closer the space got to the Subsis, the darker it became.
Shang moved his Subsis to the side again.
Then, he lifted his Addum over his shoulder, which was also affecting the space around it.
The space around the Addum seemed to emit waves that moved outward.
The space moved into the Subsis and moved out of the Addum.
This was a new and more advanced use of Void Break.
Shang's body could hold the powerful foreign Mana for only an instant before he had to use it.
But what about his swords?
Well, they could also hold Mana, and they were not as brittle as Shang.
At the beginning of the fight, Shang had used Void Break to gather Mana. He transformed it into Darkness with an extreme of void and put it into his Subsis.
With his second use of Void Break, he gathered even more Mana and transformed it into Fire with an extreme of heat.
Just now, Shang had used his Subsis to absorb the lightning bolt the opponent had used.
By manipulating the changed Darkness Mana in the Subsis, Shang could absorb Mana and get rid of the will on it, making it usable by him.
At this moment, Shang's Subsis was filled with almost invisible Darkness Mana, his Addum was filled with almost invisible Fire Mana, and his body was filled with foreign Lightning Mana.
The ape was confused that its lightning bolt had disappeared and readied its next attack.
But before it could finish, Shang swung his Subsis, which turned pure black in an instant.
WHOOOOM!
The ape's entire world transformed into pure darkness.
The ape canceled its offensive Spell and changed to Mana Step.
SHING!
But before it could finish, the ape was cut into two pieces.
Its two halves were completely cauterized due to the extreme heat that had bisected the ape.
Shang appeared behind the two pieces of the ape, his body and swords having returned to their usual appearances.
Just now, Shang had transformed the Darkness Mana in his Subsis into Darkness Mana with an extreme of void.
Then, he released the Darkness Mana, creating an extremely long and wide corridor of darkness, leading from him to his opponent and further.
It was like someone had painted the ground with a humongous brush.
Then, Shang used up the absorbed Lightning Mana to accelerate and push himself through the corridor of darkness.
Thanks to the Concept of Twilight, Shang could now move through darkness at speeds that seemed to rival the speed of light.
As long as there was enough darkness, Shang could move at insane speeds.
Lastly, Shang used up the Fire Mana in his Addum to boost the temperature of his Addum to incomprehensible degrees for just an instant, which had been enough to kill the ape.
The applause returned, and the Affinity Wheel returned.
WHOOOOM!
Shang used Void Break two times, and his two swords affected the surrounding space again.
Even though Shang was just standing there, the mere presence of him and his two swords severely affected the surrounding world.
The extreme heat created storms that were apocalyptic for beings below the Fourth Realm, and just being near his Subsis would turn someone into a dried corpse.
Yet, Shang only stood motionlessly and without any expression in the middle of his inner world.
He was waiting for his next opponent.
The easy levels were over.
From now on, Shang would actually need to fight seriously.
Additionally, this level was especially noteworthy since it represented not one but two thresholds.
In the last trial, Shang had failed at this level, but this time, he was confident that he could win.
The ape had been an average Peak Ancestral Beast, which meant that the next level was…
"Level 15: powerful Peak Ancestral Beast."
The level where Shang had failed last time and the last level of the Sixth Realm for beasts.
Everything after this would be in the Seventh Realm.
Chapter 789 789 – Injection
The Affinity Wheel spun for several seconds before it stopped.
Metal.
A second later, a muscular and black western dragon appeared several kilometers away from Shang.
It had four powerful legs with intimidating claws and six extremely sharp and long wings. On top of that, it also had an extremely imposing and powerful armor made of metal covering its entire body.
Shang could tell that it was outstanding in every metric of power.
Shang assumed that only one of these beasts that entered their Hibernation to reach the Seventh Realm would count as powerful Peak Ancestral Beasts.
These were the unrivaled Ancestral Beasts.
Shang readied his Addum and Subsis, which were already filled with Darkness and Fire Mana.
The dragon slowly opened its eyes.
The jester lifted his hammer and hit the bell.
DING!
The dragon roared, and in an instant, a storm of metallic spears appeared above it, which shot directly at the distant Shang.
At the same time, the dragon charged after the spears, readying another assault.
Shang moved his Subsis forward.
DING! DING! DING! DING!
Shang's Subsis hit several of the huge spears, and as soon as it did, the spears vanished.
At the same time, the warping space around Shang's Subsis began to weaken.
Every time Shang absorbed Mana with a foreign will on it, the Darkness Mana inside his Subsis would lessen.
After Shang absorbed all the spears that had shot at him, the dragon appeared behind the spears, its wings ready to strike.
Shang swung his Addum forward at the wings.
BOOOOOOM!
In an instant, all the absorbed Metal Mana appeared around the Addum, increasing its size and weight severalfold.
The wings and the Addum hit each other, and the dragon's wings bounced back.
Naturally, the dragon's body was far more powerful than Shang's, and Shang should have also been flung back.
But he wasn't.
As soon as the two attacks had collided, Shang had let go of his Addum.
His Addum shot out of his hand, flying into the distance.
Since Shang didn't bounce back, he readied his Subsis and stepped forward.
WHOOOOM!
All the Mana in the surroundings was absorbed as Shang used Void Break.
The dragon still didn't recover its balance, and Shang was moving at very high speeds.
Shang pointed his Subsis at the dragon's head, and a thin spike appeared on its end.
And then, he stabbed forward.
SHING!
It was like there was no resistance.
The Subsis moved through the metallic armor, the thick scales, the powerful muscles, and even the hard bone.
It was like it had moved through air.
In an instant, the Subsis reached the dragon's brain, but since the dragon was so big, the stab itself didn't do much.
But then, Shang used Darkness Absorb with his Subsis.
The dragon's body was incredibly powerful, which made Darkness Absorb not that useful.
However, since Shang was using Darkness Absorb with the tip of his Subsis, which was currently located in the dragon's brain, the effect was very clear.
The dragon had just regained its balance and readied an attack to kill Shang.
And then, its eyes glazed over, and it fell to the ground.
It was dead.
The applause returned, and Shang's Addum flew back to him.
But a moment later, Shang's body began to weaken as he started to age rapidly.
He was refilling his Death Mana storage.
Just now, Shang had used one of his most powerful attacks.
He had gathered all the Death Mana on the tip of his Subsis and used the level two Concept of Weakness.
With that, the Death Mana would be used up in exchange for weakening and destroying anything it touched.
While the Concept of Sickness could theoretically absorb nearly infinite Mana, the Concept of Weakness couldn't.
Yet, the effect of the Concept of Weakness was many times stronger in a shorter timeframe.
The pure destructive power of Death Mana with the Concept of Weakness could only be surpassed by Entropy.
The Death Mana had dug a tunnel into the dragon's head for Shang's Subsis.
This attack wasn't that useful against Mana Shields, but it was insanely useful against other kinds of defenses, like the armor of beasts.
Shang called it Injection.
The corpse vanished, and the wheel returned.
For the first time, Shang was glad that the wheel spun for so long since he needed some time to regain his Death Mana.
"You know, I would have never expected that anyone would actually beat an entire Realm," the God said from atop his Affinity Wheel as he looked at the dying Shang.
Shang didn't answer.
"Do you actually know what kind of achievement that is?" the God asked. "You even rival me when I have been younger."
These words interested Shang.
When the God was younger…
Shang had expected that the God had once been a mortal just like anybody else, but this confirmed it.
From which era did God come?
Did he actually create this world?
If he did, where did he gain his power from?
Was there another world where he gained enough power to create this one?
Or did he come from this world and just assume the mantle of God?
But then, who made this world, and what happened to them?
Shang couldn't be certain.
There were so many open questions.
However, one thing was certain.
The God had probably been exceptionally powerful in his youth.
"To think that I actually need to create a Beast Lord for your trial today," the God snickered. "That's really impressive."
"However, I wonder how far you can actually go."
"You know, there are so many unrivaled Peak Ancestral Beasts, but only very few manage to gain intelligence and reach the Seventh Realm."
"This means that even the weakest Beast Lord is already more talented than the beast you fought just now."
"The same thing is true for the Mages, FYI," the God added with a smirk. "The fourth Realm represents a watershed since that's when people actually create their future foundation. There are far fewer people managing to take the jump from the Third to the Fourth Realm than there are people managing to take the jump from the Fourth to the Fifth Realm, proportionally speaking."
"Additionally, the difference in power between Mages of the same Realm also increases drastically."
"All of this also applies to Mage Lords and Beast Lords."
"Let me put this into numbers for you," the God said with an even wider smirk.
"Less than 5% of Mage Lords have a normal Spirit Sense."
"Around 90% of Mage Lords have a twofold Spirit Sense."
"About 4% of Mage Lords have a threefold Spirit Sense."
"And one entire percent of Mage Lords have a fourfold Spirit Sense."
"This means that an average Mage Lord has a twofold Spirit Sense and a powerful Mage Lord has a threefold Spirit Sense."
"Wanna know why? After all, you could just break through after only understanding one level four Concept, which would only give you a normal Spirit Sense."
"So, how come there are so few Mage Lords with such a weak Spirit Sense?"
The Affinity Wheel was still spinning.
Shang guessed that the God was probably prolonging its spin since he was talking.
Shang didn't have a problem with that since he needed to refill his Death Mana anyway.
"Why?" Shang asked.
The jester only smirked.
Chapter 790 790 – Peacock
"Because it is nearly impossible to break through with only one level four Concept," the God said.
This took Shang by surprise.
Hadn't the God just confirmed that it was possible to break through with only one level four Concept?
Why was it suddenly nearly impossible?
"Well, you see," the God said, animatedly moving his hands in exaggerated gestures like he was putting on a play. "In a world with enough Mana, you wouldn't have any problems in reaching the Mage Lord Realm with only one level four Concept."
"But we don't live in a world with plenty of Mana, do we?" the jester asked with a smirk.
After hearing the God's words, Shang had a suspicion.
"Not enough momentum?" he asked.
"Yes," the God said.
"The more momentum you have, the more Mana you will absorb in your breakthrough. More momentum means pulling Mana from further places."
"To become a Mage Lord, you need a great amount of Mana, but due to the low density of Mana in the atmosphere, getting enough Mana in your controlled domain is nearly impossible when your domain is only as big as the domain of someone that will condense a normal Spirit Sense."
"Of course, you can solve that problem by entering an area with a high density of Mana, but finding such an area is very difficult, and building one is very costly."
"Naturally, Empires won't invest that much money into someone that will only condense a normal Spirit Sense. Because of that, the only Mage Lords with a onefold Spirit Sense are Mage Lords unaffiliated with Empires that managed to somehow gain enormous wealth."
"This means that every single Mage Lord you have seen since joining the Lightning Manor had had a twofold Spirit Sense, at least. There were even some with a threefold Spirit Sense."
The jester lifted his left hand. "In comparison, an Ancestral Mage with a twofold Spirit Sense counts as a powerful Ancestral Mage in this trial. Less than 5% of Ancestral Mages have a twofold Spirit Sense after all."
"So, just like with the beast, a weak Initial Mage Lord is as, if not more, talented than a powerful Peak Ancestral Mage."
"But that isn't as important," the jester said as he leaned back on the Affinity Wheel. "You might be able to fight a Beast Lord now, but I highly doubt you will reach, lest get past, a powerful Peak Ancestral Mage."
Shang's body recovered, and he slowly stood up.
He had refilled his Death Mana storage, and he was ready for the next battle.
Shang absorbed more of the surrounding Mana and refilled the Mana inside his two swords.
"You done?" the God asked.
Obviously, the God had noticed that Shang was refilling his Death Mana.
"I let you refill your Death Mana since I want to watch a good fight."
"After all, the quality of the next beast will take a drastic leap. Going from a powerful Peak Ancestral Beast to a weak Initial Beast Lord is like going from a powerful Late Ancestral Beast to a powerful Peak Ancestral Beast."
"You have a chance at winning, but it's definitely not certain."
Shang didn't answer anything.
He simply continued standing in the middle of his inner world.
"Good," the God said.
And then, the Affinity Wheel slowed down.
Eventually, it stopped.
The Affinity it landed on was something Shang had never seen before.
"Oh, hey," the jester said. "That's a rare one."
The picture was of a wave of fire being pushed to the side by green wind.
"It's called Blaze," the God said. "It's a Mixed Affinity of Fire and Wind. Blaze is as malleable as wind and hot as fire but lacks the cutting effect of wind and the explosive effect of fire. You can view it as very fast heat."
The God usually didn't explain the opponents' Affinities, but since he was very interested in the next fight, he explained the Affinity to Shang.
After all, seeing Shang get obliterated because he didn't know what Affinity his opponent had would be anticlimactic and boring.
The next moment, Shang's opponent appeared.
It was a majestic peacock.
Its green and red feathers shone bright and beautiful light on Shang's inner world.
Since Beast Lords could actively control the size of their bodies, the peacock also wasn't as overwhelmingly huge as all the previous beasts.
The peacock was only about five meters long, excluding its massive tail.
Shang could feel the difference in the peacock's aura compared to all the other beasts.
There was a certain intelligence and grace to the peacock's aura.
It felt less like a beast and more like a person.
Nevertheless, Shang readied his two swords.
This would be the first time he fought something in the Seventh Realm, which would mark another milestone in his journey to supreme power.
He was now fighting something a level higher than these cataclysmic beasts he had seen in Area 23.
This peacock was stronger than every single beast inside Area 23, and it was probably even stronger than the supervisor of Area 23.
This was something Area 23 hadn't even heard of back then.
It was a legendary beast.
In the outside world, Beast Lords were also very rare.
Shang still remembered that he had to travel over 700,000 kilometers to get to a fitting Beast Lord, and he also remembered that the Territory Lord's territory only had around ten Beast Lords.
One had to remember that the Territory Lord's territory was around a million kilometers wide.
And it only had ten Beast Lords!
Except for the limited number of Beast Kings, Beast Lords were the most powerful beasts in the world.
They were exceedingly rare, very powerful, and mystical.
The jester slowly lifted his hammer as Shang readied his two swords.
Then, the jester hit the bell.
DING!
The next moment, the peacock opened its eyes, which immediately locked onto Shang.
Shang could even see human emotions in the peacock's eyes.
It was interest and annoyance.